January Ministry Update
Happy New Year!
I hope you had a merry Christmas and restful winter break! I pray that you and your family and friends have stayed/will stay healthy during this spike of Covid. This update is coming out later than usual and I apologize for that. I will be more on top of them in the future. In this month's update, I will share about my Evangelism class and Pizza Theology from November and how my small group is going.
Please feel free to share any prayer requests and updates on your life, so I can pray for you. Also, feel free to ask any questions about anything that I write about in these blogs!
Evangelism Class
It was about 6 weeks long and was led by senior staff from each campus. That means the Dallas team campus (Richland/Brookhaven, TWU, SMU) apprentices took the class together led by Sandra! Sandra is my supervisor and I love her so much! It was great to have her let our class. For the class, we read a book called "More Ready Than You Realize" by Brian D. McLaren. It's a great book! I highly recommend it no matter if you are a minister or not. It focuses on looking at evangelism as a friendship rather than a one-time conversation. You go on a journey together! It's what Jesus did with his disciples! He became friends with them and invited them fully into his life. We all loved the book and expressed how helpful it was to look at evangelism through new eyes.
Another component of the class was each apprentice planned, promoted, and ran their own outreach event. Connor and I worked together. Connor is mainly at Brookhaven while I am mainly at Richland. We brainstormed together and came up with the idea to do a Thanksgiving event after seeing both of our campuses weren't doing anything Thanksgiving event. After looking at many different types of crafts, we settled on Turkey Hats, Thanksgiving-themed coloring pages, and of course materials for You notes.
We did the event at Brookhaven first. About 10 people came through did some crafts and wrote Thank You notes. It was so fun to meet new people and make the Turkey Hats! (see below the 1st photo I made; 2nd and 3rd photos shows what Connor and other students made)
Pizza Theology
Every semester, FOCUS holds an organization-wide event called Pizza Theology. It is normally held on a Sunday in the evening. The event is about 5 hours long with 4 hours of lecture and 1 hour for eating pizza! It is our most attended event! I always loved going to Pizza Theo during my college career because it engaged my brain and helped me to really think for myself! Some topics we have done in the past are 'The Second Coming', 'The Creation Story', and 'Heaven, Hell, and Everything Inbetween', just to name a few. You can find all the recordings of Pizza Theo on our website or by clicking this link: Pizza Theo Recordings
This time we did the topic, 'How to think like a Christian.' It was aimed at teaching students how to think, not what to think. The world is full of complexities and difficulties in our culture at this point in history. Through this talk, we hoped to give the students a foundation on how to start thinking about everything from climate change to sexuality to race and so on. It was a great talk and helpful for me to recenter on pastoral and Jesus loving way of thinking and speaking. I highly recommend giving it a listen!
Here are the links for Part 1 and Part 2 of the most recent Pizza Theo. How to think like a Christian Part 1 How to think like a Christian Part 2
Small Group
Small group has been going great! About 6 girls come to small group every week. I love my girls so much and can't wait to see them grow more and more this semester! It has been such a blessing to be a part of these girls' lives. I want to share a bit about each girl now.
Haylee is our returning from last school year. She has been great getting to know and have in our small group. She has done a great job being an example and loving the girls. Haylee and I do a 1-on-1 bible study every week. I always enjoy my time with her! She has grown so much in just the one semester I have been studying with her.
Natallie is new to our ministry this year and fairly new to Christianity. She goes to Brookhaven but comes to a Richland small group. She loves to take notes and has great questions and thoughts. Natallie brings a goofy side to small group which is great to liven the mood. She and I do a 1-on-1 bible study as well. One day she told me after each lesson she goes back through it and writes out notes and thoughts to really process what we just talked about. Natallie is a deep thinker and it shows with the way she expresses her thoughts.
Rebekah is also new to our ministry! She has grown up Christian and is very involved in her church. Rebekah was shy and quiet for the first few weeks but has opened up more as we have gotten closer. She loves to learn and ask questions. She is especially loving the 1-on-1 she is doing with Erika (my co-leader). It has been really fun seeing her come more out of her shell!
Blossom is new to our ministry. She is pretty involved in her church and seems to know a lot of scripture. Blossom is interesting because she participates in small group during discussions but never gets too personal. Slowly but surely she has started to open up more to me and has been asking for advice on things. Blossom still keeps it pretty vague but I hope is getting more comfortable with us.
Katelyn is new as well! She is a lively and goofy young girl. From the beginning has expressed how thankful she is for this community where she feels loved and seen. Erika is doing 1-on-1 with her but it has been hard to set a time with her as she doesn't drive and relies heavily on her family. She brings a lot of laughter to our group. I can't wait to see her grow more in her faith.
Nadra is a returner but before this year has only ever experienced FOCUS online. She has loved being a part of the community in person. At first, she was shy and quiet but now has definitely become more comfortable! Nadra is sassy, sharp and so funny! I love what she has to say in small group. She is a hard worker and involved in a lot of student orgs on campus.
Trang is new to our ministry too. She is so sweet! She grew up Catholic but has really started to process her faith until recently. Trang and I are doing a 1-on-1 together and it has been so fun! She really wants the read the Bible for herself and learns all she can to decide if this is something worth following. She is thoughtful and curious. I can't wait to see her grow.
Fio is new as well! She has known Erika for many years as they use to go to the same church. Fio has been such a blessing to our group. She is not afraid to be vulnerable and honest. Fio sets a great example for the rest of the group. She loves our community and we will hopefully be starting our 1-on-1 together soon!
Last but not least, Erika my co-leader! This is her 3rd year in FOCUS and 2nd year leading. She has grown so much over the years and it is such a joy to be leading with her. She and I have become good friends this past semester. Erika loves our small group and is passionate about planning lessons. She does a great job making girls feel welcomed and seen. I love being able to lead with her!
Thank you for your support and for giving me an opportunity to love and lead these girls to Christ. I hope being able to hear about who you are impacting makes it more worthwhile. I can't thank you enough!
In Christ,
Claire Umstead
Comments
Post a Comment